Molding machine



p c B. SHANLEY 2,255,988

MOLDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 50', 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR CONN B. SHANLEy ATTORNEY Sept. 16, 1941. c, a SHANLEY 2,255,988

MOLDING MACHINE Filed Aug 50, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 P INVENTOR FIG.7. CONNOR B. SHANLE Y BY A TORNEY Patented Sept. 16, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOLDING MACHINE Connor B. Shanley, Kirkwood, Mo.

Application August 30, 1939, Serial No. 292,575

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a certain new and useful improvement in molding machines and has for its primary objects the provision of a molding machine so constructed as to mechanically compact the sand around the pattern in a uniformly firm manner, which makes it possible to duplicate in successive molds any desired or particular degree of sand-consolidation and poresize, which completely eliminates hand tamping and ramming operations, which automatically increases the compacting or sand-consolidation adjacent the flask, which makes it possible to combine both jolting and squeezing operations in asingle manipulation, and which is otherwise highly eflicient in the accomplishment of its stated functions.

And with the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings (2 sheets) Figure l is a front elevational View, partly broken away and in section, of a molding machine constructed in accordance with and embodying my present invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the machine; I

Figure 3 is a plan View of the machine;

Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views, respectively, of companion rim and flask in assembling superposed relationship prior to reception of the particular pattern; and

Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary sectional views of the machine with the flask in place, illustrating the initial and final states of a sand compacting operation.

Referring now and in more detail by reference characters to the drawings, the molding machine A illustrated, which incorporates a preferred embodiment of my invention, includes a pedestal or column I having preferably a diametrally reduced upper end-portion 2 provided with a cap 3 and at its lower end having a base flange 4 for bolted or other rigid securement upon the foundry floor, all as best seen in Figures 1 and 2.

Suitably mounted adjustably, as by means of a conventional split sleeve 5, upon the lower portion of the standard I, is a cylinder 6 provided on its side face with an outwardly projecting shelf 1 for supporting a conventional air-control valve 8 having a manually operable handle 9 and connection by means of flexible tubing It with any suitable source of compressed air supply (not shown) and by a tube II to a conventional jolt valve l2, all as best seen in Figure l and for purposes presently fully appearing.

l3 designates a piston preferably of the machined, ringless lapped type, fitting for reciprocation in the cylinder 6 and provided upon its protruding upper end with a horizontally disposed table or pattern plate l4 suitably connected, as by means of a bolt l5, to the slide link or actuator it of the jolt valve l2.

i? designates a bifurcated head bracket which includes a pair of spaced parallel arms I 8 radially disposed to column I and provided at their outer end with registering openings I9 at their inner end with axially aligned vertically spaced bearing rings 20 fitting for rotating or swingable movement upon the swivel or upper end-portion 2 of post or standard I and endwise abuttingly engaging an interposed split clamping collar 2| provided with a conventional bolt assembly 22 for securing the head bracket H at any selected position of vertical adjustment upon the post I.

On their inner or opposing faces, the arms it are provided with outwardly projecting stop bosses 23, 24, and on their outer faces with lugs 25 each provided with a vertically bored guideway 26, all as best, seen in Figures 2 and 3 and for purposes presently fully appearing.

Disposed intermediate the arms l8 and journaled for rotation on a pin 21 fixed in said openings I9, is a circumferentially grooved pulley wheel 28, securely fastened, as at 28 to, and disposed around which, is a cable 28 depending at its free end downwardly between the arms l8 and fastened, as by means of a set screw 35!, within an upstanding socket 3| formed upon the upper face of a relatively heavy massive tampinghead 32 of sufiicient weight to possess considerable inertia and momentum, being peripherally sized to fit snugly within a selected flask F and marginally recessed on its under face, as at 33, in the provision of a downwardly presented peripheral lip or rim 34.

On its upper face, the tamping-head or tamper 32 is also provided with a pair of additional up standing threaded sockets 35 for receiving elongated guide rods 35 extending shiftably through the guide apertures 26, all as best seen in Figures 1 and 2 and for purposes presently fully appearing.

Having a suitable hand-grip 31 at its outer end and bifurcated or yoked at its inner end, as at 38, for embracingly fitting about the pulley 28 and rotatively disposed upon the axial pin 21, is a pulley actuating lever 39 operatively secured to the pulley 28 as by means of a pin 40 for l swinging movement between the stop-bosses 23,

Adjustably secured, as by a set screw M, upon and intermediate the ends of the lever 39, is a counterweight 42, all as best seen in Figures 1 and 3 and for purposes presently fully appearing.

In use and practice, a particular pattern is placed upon the table or plate l4, and the flask F then disposed around such pattern p in any conventional manner; Thereupon an auxiliary or extension sand-rim r is disposed upon the flask F, as shown in Figures 6 and '7. The auxiliary sand-rim 1' preferably conforms in inner peripheral contour to the inner peripheral contour of the flask F and is provided on its outer face with outwardly and downwardly projecting positioning lugs Z adapted to snugly engage the flask F for securing the rim 1' in place above the flask F during a sand packing operation.

With the auxiliary rim 1" in place, molding sand is shoveled into or otherwise placed within the flask F around the pattern 10 until both the flask F and auxiliary rim 1' are filled. Thereupon the lever 39' is shifted upwardly from its normal position shown in full lines to the abnormal posi- 1 tion shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, the pulley 28 being thereby rotated andthe tamper 32 lowered from its so-called normal position shown in full lines to the tamping position shown in dotted lines in Figure 6.

Air valve 8 being opened by manipulation of 1' into the flask F for obtaining the required firmness or solidity to the packed sand, as shown in cordance with the present invention allow precisely the necessary gas escape through the pores of the mold, thereby insuring against imperfections due to blow-holes in the body of the casting.

It should be understood that changes and V modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts of the machine may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A molding machine comprising flask-supporting means, a head member having laterally spaced parallel arms extending over and spaced above said flask-supporting means, a pulley rotatably mounted between the arms, a flexible cable mounted on said pulley connected at one end to the pulley and having its remaining end depending freely toward the flask-supporting means, a hand lever connected with said pulley and oscillatable to wind up and unwind said cable, stops on said arms stopping winding and unwinding movement with said lever on opposite sides of and beyond a perpendicular dead center, a weight on said hand lever serving to hold said lever by gravity in each of its extreme positions and against the respective stops, a sand-tamping member carried by the depending end of the cable and consequentlyraised and lowered with Figure 7, the sand adjacent the inner face of the flask 1 being, however, compacted withspecial firmness and tightens by reason of the downwardly projecting tamping rim 34, and an extremely tight sealing zone being formed, which wedges the compacted sand mold securely within the flask and prevents any accidental rupture along the flask face. 7

As soon as the sand within the flask F has been sufliciently compacted, the lever 39 is lowered to initial or normal position, thereby elevating the tamper 32 out of the flask F. The

auxiliary rim r is then removed, and the flask F suitably drawn from the pattern 1 following which the mold-filled flask may be transported to the pouring floor for further conventional handling in accordance with established foundry practice. V 1

Thus the mold is wholly machine made and all hand-ramming or peening and the usual inaccuracies incident thereto wholly eliminated, re-

sulting in firm, compact molds and castings uniform in size and contour. A sand-mold made by my machine is sufficiently hard .to withstand metal swells and irregularities without showing or exhibiting scabs, cuts, and the like usual to hand-rammed molds. Further, due to the evenness with which the molding sand has by my machine been packed around the faces of the pattern, thesurfaces of the castings produced are smoother and require fewer and'less exrespect to the flask-supporting means by winding and unwinding movement of said pulley, and guide rod means between said sand-tamping member and said arms holding the sand-tamping member against lateral and twisting displacemounted upon the flask for holding loose excess 7 sand after the flask has been filled, a head member having laterally spaced parallel arms extending over and spaced above the flask, a pulley operatively mounted between said arms, a cable fittedupon and having one end attached to said pulley and having the remaining end depending therefrom, a tamping member carried by the depending end of said cable and sized for snugfitting disposition within the flask and the extending rim, a hand lever connected with said pulley for oscillatably rocking said pulley to Wind and unwind the cable and consequently raise said tamping member above the flask and lower the tamping member toward the flask, said tamping member being provided upon its downwardly presented tamping face with a downwardly projecting marginal flange having its outer face flush with the lateral faces of'the tamping member and having an inwardly presented oblique face for collecting and packing the sand tightly adjacent the periphery of the mold, and guide rod means interposed between said tamping member and said arms holding said tamping member against lateral displacement and twisting and permitting free up and down movement thereof.

y CONNOR B. SHANLEY. 

